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By Luke Winn

OMAHA, Neb. -- He shouldn't have been there, in the left-field bullpen at Rosenblatt Stadium, in a white Georgia uniform, in Game 1 of the College World Series finals, anxiously watching the Bulldogs' epic, eighth-inning comeback. This time last June, the Atlanta Braves had just taken Josh Fields with their second-round pick, and he was as good as gone -- ready to forget a nightmare junior season in which he had recorded just seven saves and blown six, and take his high-90s fastball to the minors. A 4.46 ERA aside, he was still a coveted college closer.

There was just the small issue of the contract. Negotiations between his agent, Scott Boras, and the Braves -- as they are wont to do when the infamous Boras is involved -- got hairy. A few weeks into the process, the Braves called Fields directly and gave him an ultimatum: sign now or talks would go dead until August. He didn't sign. Talks went dead. And the more he hung around Athens, the more he prayed about it, the more he considered the logistics of the deal, the more staying seemed like a better option. "It just became a no-brainer," Fields said. "It felt right to come back."

So back he was, on a 78-degree Monday night in Omaha, his 'Dawgs having pulled ahead of tournament Cinderella Fresno State on a home run by Gordon Beckham and doubles by Matt Cerione and Joey Lewis in the bottom of the eighth. Fields is not from the Cold-Blooded Sect of closers, and so he admitted that while warming up, "My adrenaline was flowing pretty hard. I get real nervous in those situations, and I was trying to breathe deeply, just trying to calm myself down."

With the score 7-6, coach Dave Perno's call for Fields came in the top of the ninth. This, too, was a no-brainer. When the long-haired, long-since-his-last-shave righty's name flashed on the scoreboard, it came with the stats of a pitcher reborn as a senior: 17 saves in 17 chances. Sixty-two strikeouts against 22 walks. An opponents' batting average of .137. They no doubt mentioned on television that Fields had recently become the 20th pick in the first round by the Seattle Mariners, and could be in the majors by next season.

It had been right to come back. But this would be the most vital appearance of his career, a chance to put eighth-seeded Georgia within one win of a national title. As good a time as any to convert adrenaline into heat.

Fields' first pitch of the ninth, to Fresno leadoff hitter Danny Muno, clocked in at 96 for a strike. Fastballs of 97, 95, 97 and 96 followed, the last one lined to right for out No. 1.

Fields hit 98 on the first pitch to the next batter, Gavin Hedstrom. Three pitches later, Hedstrom went down swinging on a 95 mile-per-hour fastball, with Fields almost recoiling backwards after letting it loose.

He needed three pitches to retire the third hitter, Erik Wetzel: a heater that ESPN's speed gun didn't record; a nasty curve at 84, and a fastball at 95 that was popped up to first. Twelve pitches, three outs, and Fresno's latest giant-killing effort -- after eliminating No. 2 overall seed North Carolina on Sunday -- had been thwarted. "That's pretty much been his style all year," Georgia catcher Bryce Massanari said of Fields. "He's one big quick-twitch muscle. He just slammed the door."

Fields' parents, David and Lisa, were watching the game at home in Hull, Ga., just 10 minutes from the UGA campus, where David works as an information technology manager. Josh was raised around Georgia's baseball program, attending innumerable Bulldog games as a child, and even serving as the team's batboy for one game when he was 12. ("Goldberg [the WWE wrestler] was throwing out the first pitch," Fields recalls. "The guy was an absolute giant; I got to see him in the locker room and that was pretty exciting.")

The morning of Monday's CWS game David sent Josh a text message that said, simply, "All you need to be is Joshua." The meaning: That Fields didn't need to stress the way he had as a junior, when things had routinely fallen apart; and he didn't need to press the way he had in his previous CWS appearance against Stanford, when he had given up four ninth-inning runs and turned a 10-4 blowout into a 10-8 squirmer. "I wanted to remind him," said David, "that he didn't need to muscle up and throw the ball too hard, and didn't need to over-think things. He just needed to be himself, and do things that had got him there."